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The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 cemented the Cold War, confirming the USSR’s dominance over Eastern Europe and the limitations of NATO. Many thousands were killed. As we approach the 70th anniversary, Nathalie Olah, whose own grandfather was one of 200,000 people to flee Hungary as the working-class uprising was violently suppressed by Soviet tanks, visits Budapest in search of its traces. The Parliament building is still marked with bullet holes. On the facade of the Magyar Radio building, once occupied by students, she finds a sculpture commemorating four of those killed. After decades of suppression, the uprising is now highly symbolic and used in recent years to serve different political agendas. Nathalie speaks with younger people touched in different ways by ’56. Kornélia Deres is a poet whose family stood on different sides of the conflict, and whose work is informed by intergenerational trauma. Noémi Varga is a filmmaker who observes the memory culture of ’56 and its uses in public discourse. Elemer Balazs is a musician who performed Liszt's Funérailles (composed after the crushing of the 1848 Hungarian Revolution) at the inauguration of the new Prime Minister, Peter Magyar, ushering in what many wish to believe is a new era of hope. Presented by Nathalie Olah Produced by Alan Hall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

In 1916, struggling across the mountains of South Georgia after the loss of the Endurance, Ernest Shackleton sensed that his party of three had become four. T.S. Eliot carried the idea into The Waste Land with "Who is the third who walks always beside you?", also a reference to the biblical tale of the Road to Emmaus where a mysterious unseen companion accompanies two disciples. The Third Man has shadowed explorers ever since - the belief, at the far edge of exhaustion, fear or grief, that someone unseen has come to walk alongside. Poet Kathleen Jamie has written a new narrative poem in which that presence speaks, and sets it among people who have met it: Stephen Venables, descending alone from the summit of Everest; Peter Hillary, on the long haul to the South Pole; and Chamonix mountain guide Jean-Franck Charlet who remembers a glacier he had to cross alone, roped to an unknown companion. In a deer hide in the Scottish hills, mountaineer Sandy Allan recalls the white rabbit in a red waistcoat that kept him company on Nanga Parbat, and Liz Duff, the first Scottish woman on Everest, describes the day in 1985 when she and two others watched a figure carry a load along Everest's North-East Ridge. The climbers at the next camp saw no one arrive. Is it the mind protecting itself, or something else? Between the voices, the wind and the ice, Kathleen Jamie listens for who is there. With thanks to Globule Radio Chamonix for recording Jean-Franck. Presenter: Kathleen Jamie Producer: Victoria Ferran A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4

For much of their lives, Micki, Esther, Nicola and Colin were devoted members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Nigerian Deeper Life Bible Church and Mormonism, respectively. Each recounts the moments when certainty began to unravel. In raw and honest detail, their stories explore the difficult line between deep religious devotion and unhealthy control. Along the way, for each of them, the balance tipped. Eventually, the effort of holding on became harder than letting go. With thanks to Faith to Faithless, a Humanists UK service guided by people with lived experience of leaving controlling religious environments. Original music by Steve Urquhart. (Photograph: Nicola Brophy) Produced by May Robson A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Young Polish field-recordist Izabela Dłużyk travels to the Amazonian rainforest of Peru. Izabela, blind from birth, is a self-taught recordist with a wonderful ears for sound and limitless passion for the natural world. She is ‘rather shy and modest’ by her own account, but indefatigable in her adventurous pursuit of lovely recordings, leaving her recorders running night and day. She knows around 300 creature sounds by heart and in Peru she meets Red Howler Monkeys, Scarlet Macaws, Cobalt winged parakeets and many others. But what do these names and animals mean to someone who 'cannot imagine' colour or any other visual mapping? Izabela in Peru leads sighted listeners to a deeper understanding of blindness, especially the innate blindness that has shaped her inner world. Join Izabela as she climbs fearlessly up a 40 metre scaffolding rig to record above the tree canopy. 'I cannot understand height emotionally or intellectually,' Izabela says 'I cannot touch it with my hands or feet...what is 40 metres?' Izabela first delighted BBC audiences with ‘Izabela in the Forest’ in 2023 when she guided us around the ancient forest of Białowieża in her native Poland. Producer Monica Whitlock Mix by Peter Ringrose

Radio 4 is marking the arrival of the Bayeux Tapestry in Britain with a day of programmes on the Norman Conquest and its lasting legacy today. George Parker, political editor of the Financial Times, was first captivated by the tapestry as a young boy when he was taken to see it on a family holiday to Normandy. He went on to discover why the tapestry is first and foremost a deeply political object. Tracing an extraordinary history over nearly 1000 years, George singles out the moments which show the power of a 70-metre-long piece of embroidered cloth with its stories of war, ambition and betrayal. Why do some see it as an 11th century war ‘dossier’, justifying the Norman conquest of Britain and the building of a new nation? Why did Napoleon have it brought to the Louvre as he plotted a new invasion across the Channel? Why were the Nazis obsessed with the fine details of the tapestry - and how were they thrillingly stopped in their quest to claim it at the climax of the Second World War? And how has a piece quintessentially associated with Anglo-French conflict come to symbolise the reverse – a new ‘entente amicale’ in the post-Brexit era? George talks to historical experts and key players from politics and diplomacy. Guests include former prime minister Theresa May, George Osborne, Chris Bryant, French culture minister Catherine Pégard, Philippe Bélaval, Peter Ricketts, Professor Shirley Ann Brown and Dr Dave Musgrove. With thanks to the City of Sheffield Festival Band. Producer: Leela Padmanabhan Sound Design: Hal Haines

Footsteps on a metal walkway. The jangle of keys and the resonant clang of thick steel doors slamming. The clamour of voices raised in conversation, or argument, or laughter… their echoes ricocheting off brick and concrete. TVs and radios, all tuned to different stations, fighting it out with each other, overlapping and blurring into a muddle of sound. Prison is a swirling soundscape. A cacophony of disparate elements bouncing off the walls, assaulting your ears - and your mind. And each sound has a meaning, a resonance, both to prisoners and prison officers. Nowadays Ric Renton is a playwright and screenwriter. But two decades ago that soundscape was part of his life... day and night. In his late teens he served time, first in a Young Offenders’ Institution and later in HMP Durham. And in the 20 years since he left, he’s often thought back to the sound of those places. In this Illuminated he considers the significance of sound in prison - its impact on prisoners in an environment where they can’t escape it, the rhythms of its rise and fall across the day, and the way sound gives you clues about the prevailing mood... whether everybody’s relaxed or whether there’s tension in the air. Ex-prisoners Valentine, Will, Yasmine and Nassri reflect on the barrage of noise they encountered in prison and the impossibility of escaping from it. Valentine recalls sounds echoing and bouncing off the walls. And wrapped up in the cacophony was pain and trauma - and truth too. It seemed to patrol the prison corridors, even in the relative quiet of the night when inmates were banged up in their cells. Ric Renton remembers, at HMP Durham in the depths of the night, the warders’ shout when they discovered that a prisoner had taken their own life: the sudden, chilling cry of “One off!” And former prison officer Alex South recalls how she and her colleagues could read the mood of the wing just by listening. If the shouting had diminished and everything was quieter, if people were murmuring and watchful, then there was probably trouble brewing. The programme is soundtracked by recordings made on location in prison - the sounds as prison officers kit up at the beginning of their shift, the cacophony which explodes onto the wing at morning unlocking, the alarms, the gates, the keys, the prison officers’ radios, the procession and accumulation of sounds which mark the passing of another day inside. Noise, bodies and minds - bouncing off the walls. With thanks to the Prison Radio Association, Synergy Theatre Company and HMP Berwyn for their assistance in the making of this programme. Presenter: Ric Renton Producer: Jeremy Grange Executive Producer: Olivia Humphreys An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4

You might know Birmingham's Bullring as one of the UK's premiere shopping destinations, or somewhere to pass through on your way to visit Birmingham's famous Christmas Market. But at the heart of the Bullring is a special church – one of only three churches in the world to have 16 bells. And bells have been rung on this site for almost 500 years. The bellringers of Birmingham are arguably the best in the world at change ringing. They are preparing to compete at the annual National 12-Bell Striking Contest at York Minster - and they are the team to beat. Will they add to their formidable winning record, or will the York team have enough home advantage to beat them? Special thanks to all those taking part: the Bellringers of St Matins in the Bullring and the Birmingham 12-Bell Striking Contest Team - Alistair Cherry, Mike Wilby, Mark Eccleston, Stephanie Warboys, Jimmy Yeoman, Oliver Bates Bellringing commentator and presenter Matthew Tosh Judges of the National 12-Bell Striking Contest - Jo Holden and Jennie Earis Canon Presenter James Milne of York Minster. Sound recordist; Mike Rucinski Sound engineer Nigel Appleton Producer: Rosie Boulton A Must Try Softer production for BBC Radio 4

Growing up in rural Derry, author Séamas O’Reilly and his siblings never needed to go to Blockbuster. Instead, they were enraptured by their father’s archive of hundreds of films recorded off the television. With their snippets of old-timey adverts and local telly, the tapes contain a tantalising glimpse of Northern Ireland in the late 1980s, as well as an array of truly memorable double bills. Where else could you find Pride and Prejudice back-to-back with Commando? Or Strictly Ballroom straight into Highlander? An indifferent filmgoer, Séamas’s dad was an unlikely cinephile. Arguably, it was the cataloguing that mattered more, meticulously ordering the entries, both alphabetically and chronologically, for his children to browse. It’s only recently, however, that Séamas has begun to understand what lay behind this bewilderingly specific collection. In this edition of Illuminated, Séamas tries to unravel the mystery of his father’s Grand North Atlantic Home Video Archive, all while trying to understand why so many of us, when faced with tragedy, have a compulsion to record. Producer: Ant Adeane Executive Producer: Anishka Sharma A Small Blue production for Radio 4

Award winning Scottish folksinger, songwriter and storyteller, Karine Polwart celebrates the 300th anniversary of James Hutton’s birth, the Scottish scientist and philosopher known as the father of geology. With specially performed music and song, she explores one of Hutton’s most radical and challenging concepts - deep time. Hutton was the first to hypothesise that the formation of the Earth had taken unfathomably long stretches of time, far, far longer than the eight thousand or so years that studies of the bible had suggested. And that radical theory would be confirmed by a discovery Hutton made when he and his two companions stepped ashore from a boat trip to Siccar Point on the east coast of Scotland in June 1788. What he saw was sandstone eroded away to reveal sharp vertical shards of the rock greywacke laid down some 60 million years earlier -what geologist today would call an unconformity. Recreating that journey for the programme Karine is joined by geologist Dr Angus Miller and David Farrier, writer and Professor of Literature and the Environment at the University of Edinburgh. Angus explains just how influential Hutton’s theory became through the writing of his companion on the trip - John Playfair "The mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time; and while we listened with earnestness and admiration to the philosopher who was now unfolding to us the order and series of these wonderful events, we became sensible to how much farther reason may sometimes go than imagination can venture to follow." The truth that Hutton revealed was indeed far stranger than fiction, not only upending the received wisdom about the age of the Earth but would have far reaching consequences, giving successors like Charles Darwin a timescale that would allow the incremental changes of natural selection to take place. For David Farrier Hutton’s discoveries opened up not only the deep past but the prospect of the deep future. His book Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils, looks at the marks we are leaving on the planet and how these might appear in the fossil record in the deep future. Karine weaves these ideas together in the music threaded through the programme blending the events of Hutton’s visit with these challenging ideas about our responsibility to those far off generations to come. The idea of seeing intimate, human connections to the geology of the planet is taken up by the artist Illana Halperin. Her work explores where human time and geological time scales intersect most notably in how she shares a birthday with the Icelandic volcano Eldfell that she visits on every major milestone as they age together. The programme builds to a crescendo of all these ideas overlaid and blended into a powerful message of how we’ve become a planetary force capable of great feats for both good and ill. Written, composed and performed by Karine Polwart Sound design and additional music by Pippa Murphy Piano: Dave Milligan Producer: Peter McManus

"Some losses feel seismic. The ground shifts, familiar landscapes tilt, and nothing is the same. Dad’s death changed our world. But it also left us with a distinctly geological conundrum. What on earth are we going to do with his rock collection?" Three years after the death of Jenny Hill’s father, the family are still coming to terms not only with their grief - but a cumbersome inheritance. Arthur Hill, a much‑loved and somewhat eccentric chemistry teacher, spent a lifetime collecting rocks, minerals, fossils and gemstones. Hundreds of specimens now fill the corners and cupboards of the family’s small semi‑detached house in Jersey. This edition of 'Illuminated' is a journey through stone, memory, and the traces we leave behind. Jenny - a former BBC foreign correspondent - returns home to explore the collection, wondering what these objects might reveal about the man who gathered, labelled, and studied them - but who never quite persuaded his family to share his passion. Presenter: Jenny Hill Producer & Sound Designer: Phoebe McIndoe Executive Producer: Jack Howson A Peanut & Crumb production for BBC Radio 4

How do you tell the story of your life when you have no memory of the events that shaped you? At 15, Stephen McAll was a promising musician with a head full of songs. He was booked into a studio to record an album. Then, one night walking home from his girlfriend’s house in East Kilbride, he was attacked and beaten. The assault left him with serious head injuries and diagnoses of psychosis, excruciating cluster headaches, and PTSD. It also erased almost all of his memories. He says he could recognise faces and names of loved ones, but had lost every experience, event, or occasion in his life up to that point. He couldn't lay down new memories or hold onto information. He could read words on a page, but could not retain their meaning. His psychosis, which went undiagnosed for years, led to walls and ceilings moving and wobbling in a way that felt like being on psychedelic drugs. Rather than seeking medical help, Stephen sank into a wilderness of heavy drinking and drug-taking. Years later, at his lowest ebb, he found himself drawn to a bookshelf, to a collection by Scottish poet Norman MacCaig. An inscription told him the book had been a gift from a much-loved English teacher. He started reading, and found himself transported. He says this was the moment that 'hope returned'. Now in his early 40s, Stephen McAll is a successful music artist, and founder of critically acclaimed folk band Constant Follower. This episode of Illuminated charts Stephen's decades-long journey from devastating injury and memory loss, back to hope and happiness. There is one caveat: it may not be completely true. Stephen has had to piece together memories from stories he has been told, things he has surmised, and tiny slivers of memory that have returned over time. He is the unreliable narrator of his own story. Producers: Katie Revell and Dave Howard Sound design: Jonathan Webb Executive producer: Dave Howard Music: Stephen McAll Excerpt of 'The Root of It' by Norman MacCaig, taken from album The Way I Say It, copyright Claddagh Records Excerpt of 'Tourist and Landlord' by Norman MacCaig, from a film made for the Scottish Poetry Library called 'Norman MacCaig reads 2 Poems' Thanks to Shaun Milne A Bespoken Media Scotland production for BBC Radio 4

Writer Tim Dee is trying to make a most extraordinary Zoom Call that will transport him across the centuries to have a most magical encounter with a scholarly looking guy with a white beard who is his namesake. Dr John Dee was astronomer and astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I. He was a wizardly necromancer with a Europe wide reputation who ended up desperately trying to converse with angels to unlock the secrets of the universe. As attempts at making a connection go ahead, Tim also goes on a quest in search of Dr Dee. He talks with biblical scholar, former Archbishop of Canterbury and poet Rowan Williams to understand more about the importance of Angels in Dee’s time. On the site of Dr Dee’s house by the Thames at Mortlake, he meets Ann Dingsdale, a real flesh and blood relative of the Renaissance genius. Ann is his ten times great granddaughter. At the British Library, Tim looks over Dee’s legible and miraculously preserved Angel Diaries with the poet Camille Ralphs. Such is her fascination, Camille has written a sequence of poems in Dee’s voice and reads extracts from them. The Royal College of Physicians has several unique volumes from Dr Dee’s library, which was the largest of its time in the whole of Europe. With Tim to peruse these, and to understand the connections between Science and Magic in the Elizabethan age, is Renaissance expert Charles Nicholl. All this plus Dee’s voice heard at intervals coming through the ether, and a heavenly soundtrack that includes Aretha Franklin, The Who, Nina Simone, Dr John, Jimi Hendrix and The Clash. Presenter: Tim Dee Producer: Alastair Laurence Executive Producer: David Prest Sound Design: Jake Wittlin A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

When museum curator Mark Hignett began buying WWII-era letters online, he believed he was piecing together the life of an ordinary soldier. At first glance, the letters looked like typical correspondence: full of yearning, daily details, and hopes for peace. But what emerged wasn’t just a wartime chronicle - it was a love story. As he kept on reading, he slowly realised they were letters from one male soldier to another. At a time when homosexuality was criminalised in Britain and gay soldiers risked court martial, Gilbert and Gordon exchanged intimate, heartfelt correspondence, which are read for this programme by Olly Alexander. Their letters spoke of longing, joy, fear, and hope. In one, Gordon writes simply: “There is nothing more that I desire in life but to have you with me constantly.” In another, he reflects on how the world would see them: “The rest of the world have no conception of what our love is – they do not know that it is love.” It’s a reminder that while the law branded them criminals, they understood their bond as something deeply human, and deeply right. That dream, however, sat alongside deep fear. In one letter, Gordon pleaded with Gilbert to destroy their correspondence: "Please darling, do this for me in deadly seriousness" - terrified of the consequences if their relationship were discovered. And yet, in another, he imagined a world that would understand: “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all our letters could be published in a more enlightened time?” In this episode of Illuminated, curator Mark Hignett and producer Ilona Toller assess the content of the letters, which are read by Olly Alexander. Producer: Ilona Toller Editor: David Prest A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

This is a love letter to a special kind of letter, a 'later life letter' - a letter that can 'speak across the years', telling an adopted child where they come from, and helping them understand who they might be now. In this documentary, poet Luke Wright opens his 'later life letter' and shares what it reveals, and why he keeps it in his bedside drawer. It's one of the most meaningful documents anyone can read. It tells a child about their birth family and their history, when there may be no-one who remembers or knows these details. Luke's letter is handwritten, and has come to mean so much more to him than an official document. When Luke received his later life letter as a teenager, he didn’t pay it too much attention. But now, married to a social worker and seeing the care she takes with these letters, he re-examines it, writing poetry about the letter itself, the life he might have had, and appreciating the care a social worker took in 1982 to tell the story of his surprise birth and his earliest weeks on earth. He wants to understand how it was written, to imagine the social worker who wrote it in her own hand - and to say thank you to her in person if he can. Presented by Luke Wright - his new collection is 'Later Life Letter' (Fleet) Produced by Faith Lawrence Mix by Sharon Hughes (Shush)

We're at the Black Sea coast on the last night of June. Everything is building up to the sunrise. This is Bulgaria’s ‘July Morning’ observance - somewhere between a counter-cultural musical festival, and a secular pilgrimage marking the start of July. It revolves around reaching the coast in time to meet July’s first sunrise. This celebration has an unlikely origin story - a 1971 song, also called July Morning, by English rock band Uriah Heep. Starting in Sofia, we make the road trip across Bulgaria to Kamen Bryag, one of Bulgaria's easternmost points, where the sun rises earliest over the horizon. Audio producer Carys Wall travels with friend Kami and Bulgarian musician and veteran July Morning attendee Milenita. Uriah Heep still have a significant following in the Balkans, and the band’s late singer John Lawton performed at the celebration several times. In the 80s, during the social and cultural restrictions of state-socialist Bulgaria, Uriah Heep and July Morning gained massive underground appeal, as a protest anthem. The festival grew from that – with fire, rock music, and Metal-inspired fashion. Many attendees are long-time rockers who remember these protest origins. For others – revellers in their teens and 20s – Bulgaria’s July Morning celebration is a coming-of-age, a social event to mark the start of summer, and a chance to listen to really loud music. Whichever way you look at it, it is a celebration of freedom. As the sun peaks over the sea, the song blares from speakers. There I was on a July morning Looking for love With the strength of a new day dawning And the beautiful sun And at the sound of the first bird singing I was leaving for home With the storm and the night behind me And the road of my own With the day, came the resolution With thanks to Kmetal Tsonko Tsonev, Alex Boreva, Katie Revell, Andrea Morán and Cicely Fell. Producer: Carys Wall Executive producer: Dave Howard Sound designer: Jonathan Webb A Bespoken Media Scotland Production